Weird to read something from an unknown (to me) organization which claims censorship in Germany when I as a German can't recall any instances in the last thirty years which I would consider censored in Germany.
Like I mean yes Doom was censored as a game due to gore/violence. But what else?
Have to check the report.
But the thing is: Censorship is not the issue in Germany. Disinformation is. We get too much bullshit information unhindered which causes chaos.
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After a short skim of the report. It takes the angle that Germany's attempt to fight online hatespeech and disinformation would stifle speech and takes concern with paltry sums such as 30-50m spend annually to fight hate speech online. It all sounds pretty ridiculous to me when you consider that Cambridge Analytica doesn't even appear in the report as one of the wake-up calls to European countries that social media has become weaponized to attack democracies and influence elections. This isn't about free speech for Germans in Germany but how can we can keep Chinese interest through TikTok, Russian propaganda through X and comment sections and other foreign influences at bay?
I mostly agree with your points, but there’s one form of censorship that exists in Germany today: internet censorship driven by the commercial interests of right holders and implemented by the major internet service providers. In short: illegal streaming sites can be blocked for access.
Some people might disagree that it isn’t a form of censorship, but it fits the bill: blocking access to information on the sole discretion of 3rd party pursuing its own interests.
I am not sure this counts as censorship. But I agree that copyright violations are likely policed (through copyright holders and their lawyers) more strictly in Germany than hate speech.
basically idea is "go after trolls". who likes trolls? nobody. at a glance should upset no-one. Okay.. now ask.. what does a troll mean to you, mean to me, mean to the people in power. It's a slippery slope you see, the definition of troll inevitably growing broader with time to cover all forms of wrongthink.
Then there's the other part of it, severity of punishment in ratio to a few words typed. Now the interesting thing here is it would be very easy to crack open a neighbor's wifi crypto, forge a MAC address, use a clean system/browser fingerprint such as a thrift store laptop, and now that neighbor you don't like is in hot water. The problem with such rules is ironically, with the intent to stop trolls, in fact supercharge trolling potential
Germany does have piracy policing for torrents, for instance. Access is not blocked though, and thus I don't consider fines for torrenting to be an act of censorship.
That picture did not suggest someone is part of the SS but that someone in the Bundeswher might have contacts to SS People. To argue that this should even go in front of a judge is insanity.
The violation of rights already began with the investigation for what anyone in good faith would consider satire. Even being investigated for this means having to defend oneself, perhaps hire an attorney, in case of this defendant having to have a gofundme equivalent to pay for it. Would you like to go to court for every post you do online? I cannot fathom how you cannot see that this is obviously designed to intimidate students criticizing the Bundeswehr or being violated by a medical examination as a draft preperation.
Young people have to shut up and take it and if they don't, hope your pocketmoney covers attorneys fees!
Just read the context of what happened here, it's easy to find. They did shit like using their mass suriveillance tech to find the phone this OBVIOUS SATIRE was posted from[0]
The chilling effect is the police knocking on your door, taking all your devices and being under investigation for months on end before you are cleared. If you are lucky.
I think your examples aren't that much censorship but rather individuals/politicians asserting their rights not to let anybody smear them on social media.
The rules which made e.g. insults illegal haven't changed but society stopped allowing anonymous people online getting away with it.
Maybe some background for non-German readers on Pimmelgate (Dick gate):
Pimmelgate happened when a secretary of state in one of the German states was called a 'dick' on social media and the politician had the guy who posted this swatted by state police. The state minister lost the resulting legal battle and was ridiculed online for his short fuse.
Not pretty certainly. Certainly an abuse of power by a politician leading the police in that state, but also widely reported and criticized. In my mind it doesn't compare for instance Donald Trump going after Comey or suing public broadcasters.
Schwachkopf-Affäre is a good example of how the right wings try to put in your head censorship and making you happy about having even more censorship in the future. There is a ton of fake stuff/news about it and it is used to block media even more.
Like I mean yes Doom was censored as a game due to gore/violence. But what else?
Have to check the report.
But the thing is: Censorship is not the issue in Germany. Disinformation is. We get too much bullshit information unhindered which causes chaos.
--
After a short skim of the report. It takes the angle that Germany's attempt to fight online hatespeech and disinformation would stifle speech and takes concern with paltry sums such as 30-50m spend annually to fight hate speech online. It all sounds pretty ridiculous to me when you consider that Cambridge Analytica doesn't even appear in the report as one of the wake-up calls to European countries that social media has become weaponized to attack democracies and influence elections. This isn't about free speech for Germans in Germany but how can we can keep Chinese interest through TikTok, Russian propaganda through X and comment sections and other foreign influences at bay?